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Monday, July 8, 2013

The Peacock

Peacocks are my favorite bird because they're just so regal and beautiful with their iridescent tails! That's why I use the peacock feather as my copywrite stamp on all my images and in the url bar of my blog.
When I went to Hawaii four years ago I saw beautiful peacocks who walked freely right next to me! When I went to Panama saw white peacocks!

A few years ago I wanted to buy some peacock earrings but I wondered how do they get the feathers? So I researched it and found out that the peacock sheds his feathers yearly in a process called molting. It's the male peacock who has this beautiful train and it gets larger each year! It takes seven months to regrow and he uses it to attract females for mating season by raising and lowering then rustling the fan of feathers. Peacocks are native to South Asia and the Central Africa and come in blue, green, white, light brown or purple coloring.

Here are some interesting facts:

A peacock is male; a female is a peahen. Collectively they are peafowl.

Baby peacocks are called peachicks.

The females are usually brown so they can blend in with the background and lay eggs safely.

The Indian peafowl is the national bird of India and is protected in that country. In the Hindu religion, the peafowl is a sacred bird, because the spots on the peacock’s tail symbolize the eyes of the gods.

In Islam, a peacock stood guard at the gates of Paradise. According to the Bible, King Solomon brought peacocks to Jerusalem.

Peacocks can fly short distances and usually roost in trees from dusk to dawn.

Suitable males may gather harems of several females, each of which will lay three to five eggs.

Females are believed to choose their mates according to the size, color, and quality of these outrageous feather trains.